I am usually a bit cynical regarding these types of articles. My reasoning is this – each individual is unique in their motivations and rewards. Attempting to place employees into set categories regarding global characterizations is a stretch. Nonetheless, this article from Inc.com presents some excellent points and advice for employee engagement. I do not believe you can overstate this one: 5. Employees want flexibility. In addition to deciding how they work, the experts say employees also appreciate having a say over when they work. Gunther has, of course, set up a radically flexible schedule for his employees that might not work for every office. But, he says, it has… Read More
Continue ReadingWhat Is Gen U?
“Generation Unretired” according to this BusinessWeek.com article. That is a new term to me. According to the article: The AARP says that 8 out of 10 baby boomers will work part- or full-time past retirement age. That’s 64 million unretiring Americans, the biggest demographic shift in the American workforce since WWII—and 93% of the growth in the American labor market from now until 2016, according to the Pew Research Center. This trend is one that has been in the making for some time. The current recession and housing bubble burst has only exacerbated the trend. Clearly there will be new management techniques needed to handle the Gen U employees. The… Read More
Continue ReadingGenerations 101
The Wall Street Journal provides an article that does a nice job of laying out the upcoming shortage of workers. The focus is upon the different generations and the general drive behind each. The article is rather rudimentary, but it provides a clean view of the problem. First: Americans of childbearing age simply are not producing enough kids to meet the economy’s future need for workers, notably in fast-growing fields such as medicine and engineering. The shortfall is coming largely because the fabled baby boom generation was so huge—75 million Americans born in the 18 years from 1946 to 1964—that no other generation can be expected to match it any… Read More
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